1. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

1.1 SCOPE

Identification of elements relevant to the work of SC22
that may be affected by differences in language, culture, customs
and habits; and for these elements, develop standards that enable
applications to be portable across differing cultural practices;
and develop a Technical Report that describes a framework for
nations to provide those elements

2.0 PERIOD REVIEW

2.1 MARKET REQUIREMENTS

WG20 believes that through the proliferation of PCs and
the world wide web, internationalization has become a very
important factor in the creation of programs and thus programming
languages.

2.2 ACHIEVEMENTS

During last year WG20, especially the editor T.K. Sato,
completed the work on TR 11017 - Framework for
internationalization. The TR is now with ITTF for publication.

The international string ordering standard (IS 14651) has
now CD status and we will submit the updated document for final
CD ballot in October.

2.3 RESOURCES

The working group has met 12 times since the first meeting
in 1991. Participants come from Canada, Denmark, Egypt, England,
Ireland, Israel, France, Japan, and the United States.

WG20 has established a good working relationship with CEN TC304
working groups for sorting and cultural conventions, we even met
for a common session in autumn of 1996.

The biggest issue in SC22/WG20 - as in most other
standards developing organizations - is that many companies can
not afford to make enough resources available for speedy
development of standards. For many participants in our meetings,
the meeting time is the only time they can spend on the projects.
Additionally, travel budgets are tight, thus restricting the
participation even further.

3.1 DELIVERABLES

WG20 makes all efforts to complete project JTC1.22.13,
revision of guidelines for the preparation of programming
language standards, with the disposition of the DTR ballot
comments and the final TR text later this year.

We concentrate our efforts to get IS 14651, the sorting
standard, to FCD and to DIS ballot.

3.2 STRATEGIES

WG20 needs to find a native English speaker to edit TR
10176 for proper English. None of the participants in WG20 has
English as the mother tongue.

3.2.1 RISKS

Technical objections in late state of projects may delay
them.

3.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES

We expect that the increased use of electronic
distribution and the web will speed up our internal approval
process. We also hope that the participation from Ireland and
England will result in help for the editorial review of TR 10176.

3.3 WORK PROGRAM PRIORITIES

Complete TR 10176

Registration and CD ballot for IS 14652

FCD and DIS ballot for IS 14541.

4 STATUS OF ACTIVE PROJECTS

4.1 TR 11017: Framework for internationalization

Title

Framework for internationalization

Project

JTC1 22.30.01

Type

A type 3 Technical Report

Editor

T. K. Sato

Status

The TR 11017 is being published in
English and French language. The project is completed,
the TR is being published by ITTF.

4.2 Second edition of TR 10176

Title

Guidelines for the preparation of
programming languages standards

Project

JTC1 22.13

Type

An amendment to a type 3 Technical
Report

Editor

A. Kido and M. Noda

Status

Document SC22 N4579 (WG20 N477) has
been sent for DTR ballot to JTC1. Ballot closed June 17,
1997.

4.3 International string ordering (future ISO/IEC 14651)

Title

International string ordering

Project

JTC1 22.30.02.02

Type

International Standard ISO/IEC 14651

Editor

Alain LaBonté

Status

Document SC22 N2364 (WG20 N471) has
been sent for CD ballot to JTC1. The ballot results in
SC22 N2466 were discussed in the WG20 meeting in Quebec,
the editor is preparing the disposition of comments and
the new version of the standard will be sent to SC22 for
FCD ballot in October 1997.

4.4 Cultural convention specification standard (future
ISO/IEC 14652)

Title

Cultural convention specification
standard

Project

JTC1.22.30.02.03

Type

International Standard ISO/IEC 14652

Editor

Keld Simonsen

Status

A document is being prepared for
registration and CD ballot. It will be sent to SC22 for
distribution end of June 1997

4.5 Internationalization API standard (future ISO/IEC 15435)

Title

Internationalization API standard

Project

C1 22.15435

Type

International Standard ISO/IEC 15435

Editor

Keld Simonsen

Status

A document is being prepared for CD
registration ballot

5 CANDIDATE PROJECTS

5.1 Functionality of Internationalization

Title

Functionality of the
internationalization of applications

Project

JTC1 22.30.02.01

Type

A number of standards, see subproject
descriptions below

Editor

Keld Simonsen

Status

This is an umbrella project

This project is the umbrella project for the development
of specific standards for functionality of the
internationalization of applications, such that users can specify
their cultural requirements, and obtain consistent behavior
across system platforms and applications. Work is being done on
the following projects:

6 REQUESTS TO THE SC22 PLENARY

6.1 Title of IS 14651

WG20 requests that SC22
approve to change the title of JTC1.22.30.02.02 - IS 14651 - to
"International string ordering and comparison - Method for
comparing character strings and description of the common
template tailorable ordering". (The current title is:
ISO/IEC 14651 - International String Ordering - Method for
comparing character strings and description of a default
tailorable ordering)